Η τριμελής μπάντα υφίσταται ουσιαστικά από το '99 κυκλοφορώντας ωστόσο την πρώτη τους δουλειά το 2004, με τίτλο "From Underskin". Ο τελευταίος τους δίσκος "Drunken Sailors & Happy Pirates" κυκλοφόρησε το 2011 και ήταν και ο λόγος που τους ζήτησα να μου παραχωρήσουν συνέντευξη, όπως και έκαναν με μεγάλη προθυμία. Τι μας είπαν λοιπόν;
1 Hello! So, "a jigsaw" is talking about "drunken sailors and happy pirates". How did you come up with the idea of your name and hence your latest album's name?
Hi! Well, the name encompasses the concept of this album, that is centered around the construction of the identity of the individual; of how you get to be what you are. And these “Drunken Sailors & Happy Pirates” are a metaphor for the people that changed us and that are the characters of our album. In a certain way we are telling our story through theirs. We were working on this identity concept when we came up with the title. And this was 2 days before we began recording our album “Like The Wolf” in the end of 2008.
2 Well, I noticed in your myspace that your music genre compiles blues and folk among others. Have you ever been experimented as a band or some of you in other music genres? If no, would you like to?
We all had different experiences with other musical genres, because that is something that you go through as you are learning any kind of instrument. And over time you understand what it is that makes more sense to you. And it’s true that we have a greater affinity with the genres mentioned above. It’s something that happened over time. But who knows what the future holds?
3 The singer's voice reminds me of Johnny Cash, besides if I’m not wrong he is one of your inspirations. Do you believe that there is any chance for an artist to attribute correctly when his inspirations are diminutive or/and wrong?
I’m not sure I understood your question. But Yes, Johnny Cash is one of our inspirations, as are many others, like Cohen, or Nick Cave or Tom Waits. It’s with them that we learned how to write songs, how to play instruments, how to play certain instruments. And we cannot leave the writers at the door for they had a role of equal measure in how we are shaped as artists. Now about the comparisons, that is always bound to happen until you truly know the work of an artist. Until then it’s quite normal to mention names and compare, so that people who never heard of them and to whom you are writing can be in the same ballpark and understand immediately what kind of music it is.
4 What do you think is your biggest success as a band till now?
I think it’s this album, Drunken Sailors & Happy Pirates. We think it’s truly a great album and for us, that is the most pure form of success.
5 It seems that Portugal is in the same financial situation with Greece. More specifically, the salaries and the whole economical status of your country, and not only, are facing big "curtailments". Do you believe that this affects the whole music industry and you as a part of it?
Yes, strange tides for both our countries. It seems as though as if we are in the same bottomless boat in the middle of the storm. It’s only natural that the music industry suffers from any crisis because unfortunately culture at times like this is more likely to be considered as expendable. It is not, but that is an argument that would take us hours to discuss. But, on the other side and contradictory as it may be, if we take a look at our history, it’s at times like these that music and specially guitar driven music has more impact on society. Let’s see what history tells us this time. Since we tour a lot outside of Portugal we also get in contact with other country realities and can be more or less balanced. I mean even with the crisis, the first edition of our new album sold out in less than 2 months, so we can’t really complain that much about that.
6 In your opinion, what is better for an artist, going indie or being in a record label?
There are two sides to every story. Here it’s exactly that. There are major pros and cons in both and it depends on what kind of record label we are talking about. For example, with this new album we are going to do 12 different editions until the end of the year. We began in October, one month before the debut of the album with the cd-single The Strangest Friend that has 3 exclusive B-Sides, then in December we released the Cassette “I’ve Been Away For So Long” with 6 tracks. So, before the end of 2011 we already had 20 new songs out the door. And from vinyl 7’’ to 12’’ and even a book, we want to release all those songs we wrote but in a different way. And I know for sure that no Record Label and much less a major one, would be on board with such an idea. That is the good side of going indie. But there is a downside to that because it requires a great investment and surely a Label would come in handy. There are many ways to look at it and in the end there is no good nor bad, better or worse. It’s just a matter of an artist to check how far off he is from what his plan (music-wise) was initially.
7 I like trivias and I usually put some trivia-questions in my interviews. So, I would like you to tell me some of your favorite movies.
There are so many, because cinema is also one of our passions. Ok, let me see: Jean Luc Godard’s “Le Mepris”, “Pierrot Le Fou”, Mike Leigh’s “Naked”, Kubric’s “Spartacus”, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Rope” and so many, many more.
8 And your favorite albums?
Again, tough question, so I’ll stick to the ones that come to the top of my mind without giving much though to that. Ok, The Doors “La Woman”, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “No More Shall We Part”, Leonard Cohen “Songs Of Love & Hate”, Tom waits “Swordfishtrombones”, Howe Gelb “'Sno Angel Like You”
9 About Greece. Had you ever had any connection with Greece? Any influence or a piece of art that you liked it?
It’s curious that you ask. Yes we have a big connection with Greece. Apart from the obvious Greek heritage, I love the works of Homer, one of the true masters. And in fact there is a song from our first EP Fromunderskin (2004) that was inspired in a sentence from the Odyssey.
10 In your last cd you actually narrate some stories, one in each track, in a way that it makes you live the scenes which is describing. Do you have any influences in a way that helps you write these songs?If not some experiences?
Like I was telling before, those with whom we learned and came before us do leave their marks in the work we do. And that is the same for everybody, for that matter. In this case I think the stories we wrote lend themselves to these kind of flights. We’re glad to know that people feel the songs the way we wrote and intended them to be. There’s this weight of the literature in our songs that might help with that.
11 And after "Drunken sailors and happy pirates" what are we going to expect to? Are you planning any tour for promoting your work?
The tour of the album that follows the promotional tour we are doing now in Spain, begins in February in Portugal. Then it will proceed back to Spain and from April forth we’ll be all over Europe, from Germany to Italy, Holland, France, etc etc promoting the album. We hope this time around we might visit Greece and present our songs there. We’ve already had many Greeks in our gigs and they always tell us that we must go there. So I hope this time around we make it possible.
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